Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Peace all...had a great weekend crashing the South Dallas Cultural Center's opening. This opening featured two amazing women artists, Janice Thacker and Kijana Martin, who lives in the DFW area. This being women's month we were served with a double dose of thought provoking art. Janice Thacker, whom I met a couple of years ago, has some of the most amazing acrylic paintings, where the people are outlined in markers, as she described to me in the first meeting. She also has some great work with poetry included about the struggles and tribulations from slavery. I hope to go back and photograph some of those pics asap.

I met Kijana Martin at the reception, and the picture that caught my attention is a two piece presentation centering around the death of Cicely Bolden, a young lady who lived in my area who was murdered last year after telling her lover after having sex with him that she had the AIDS virus. She leaves behind two small children, and this tragedy has a lot of twists and turns included, however Ms. Martin wanted to touch on the subject of tragedy, but also learning the lessons, accountability of one's own actions, and making choices that maybe can prevent future tragedies from occurring. The second part is entitled Shattered, giving the viewer an opportunity to look at a broken mirror, which shows how making the wrong choices can destroy dreams and lives. I went home thinking about this piece especially, and hopefully in the near future, I'm going to find a way to present it in maybe a joint exhibit, or whatever. The most important part of thought provoking art is to get it out there and start dialogue.

Originally I intended to crash two openings that weekend, but sometimes things get in the way. I found myself talking both of these artists' ears off, and with the St. Patricks' weekend jamming up downtown and traffic, I settled with just this one opening this time. But I have no regrets.